Sharks coach rates his players' toughness shift by shift

TIME OFF SCHEDULED AT CANADA'S BANFF PARK

Not saying it's personal or anything, but ever since Darryl Sutter landed in Calgary, games between the Sharks and Flames generally have more than a little edge to them.

The former San Jose coach and current Calgary general manager always has been known for his hard-nosed style. And hiring Mike Keenan as his coach last summer only added to that reputation.

So let's assume some San Jose player might absorb a stray elbow or a smack to the back of the head tonight. What happens in the next moment, it turns out, is much less significant than what happens on that player's next shift.

But let Sharks Coach Ron Wilson explain. He and TV analyst Drew Remenda were talking at length Saturday morning on team toughness. Here's the gist of what Wilson is watching for as each game progresses:

"The most important thing to me is not that you punch back after somebody's punched you in the head. It's the next shift. Do you take a pass when you might get punched in the head?

"Anybody, when you get punched in the head, is probably going to . . . you're a professional athlete, you don't run for the hills. You punch back. And we've had good responses to any slight."

Then Wilson talked about Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom as a role model for what he would like to see from his players.

"He goes and stands in front of the net. And he gets punched and he gets whacked by the goalie, he gets knocked on his keister and he fights back and he maybe gets a penalty.

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The next shift, where's Tomas Holmstrom? Back in front of the net. It might have taken him some time to get comfortable doing that, but because of what the reward is, you have to do that.

"That's what I want to see. When you do get punched in the head, or they dump it in the corner and you get run on the very first shift of the game, does it affect your second and your third and your fourth shifts?

"Don't allow anybody's efforts to get you off your game. That's what we're working on."

Curling, bonding time

Between Monday night's game in Calgary and Friday night's rematch against Detroit, the Sharks are spending three nights in Banff, the Canadian national park and resort that is less than a 90-minute drive from the Saddledome.

Like last year, a curling tournament is on the agenda, as is one practice. Other than that, it's a bunch of guys between the ages of 20 and 37 getting to know a little more about one another's families and lives away from the rink.

What about the timing of the break as the Sharks are still trying to gel on the ice? Not relevant, players say.

"It's always good timing whenever you can have a few days off and relax and get away from the stress of the games a little bit," Mike Grier said.

Inevitably, Wilson suggested, the conversation may turn to hockey and maybe a botched play that nobody wants to see repeated.

"But that's not what this is about," he said. "They talk about hockey in the dressing room."

Players are on their own to come up with dinner plans each night, and in similar situations they have ended up going out together en masse. That would be different from a standard trip.

Normally, defenseman Kyle McLaren explained, players break up into smaller groups - not by age, not by position, not by lines, but by menu preferences.

"I went for sushi and there were 10 of us, seven guys went for steaks, others went for chicken or pasta," McLaren said of one stop on the Sharks' season-opening trip. "And sometimes it all depends on what time you want to go."

So there aren't any cliques?

"Our cliques?" McLaren said, "They change all the time."

Hmm. Just like the lines.

Players' meeting

One reason the Sharks might not plan to dwell on this season's shortcomings at Banff: Players held a meeting after the Detroit loss to try to straighten themselves out.

"We have had some discussions with the full team and we're going to try to work through this. You know, it's an extremely long season," alternate captain Craig Rivet said, noting that players realize their start isn't what it should be.

"We have had discussions," he added, "but there's no panic button, there's no finger-pointing."

Captain Patrick Marleau, whose goal Saturday was his first since opening night, said everybody on the team "knows what we need to do. . . . With the win against Nashville, I think everybody got a taste of what it takes again."

Can't rest on laurels

It's pretty clear that Wilson remained unhappy with the effort of a half-dozen players even after the 3-0 victory over Nashville. Mostly it was about players not competing hard enough - with the puck or without it.

"What you did last year or two years ago doesn't matter," the coach said, later adding that "we have guys who can do that but who apparently have decided it's below them to do that anymore."

He didn't name any names, but the fact he dropped both Jonathan Cheechoo and Ryane Clowe off of Joe Thornton's line is a pretty good indicator.

"At least tonight I'll get a decent night's sleep, but six or seven guys won't," Wilson said. "I'd rather them not sleep than me. I'm sick of waking up every 10 minutes going, 'What the heck was that?' "